Two Horses, Sketch

Włodzimierz Tetmajer

Oil on panel

National Museum in Warsaw

In this loose, expressive sketch, two horses—one a rich chestnut brown, the other a pale dappled grey with a harness—stand side by side in a sunlit green field. Tetmajer's bold, visible brushstrokes capture the animals' musculature and weight with remarkable economy, favoring gestural immediacy over fine detail in true plein-air sketch fashion. As a leading figure of the Young Poland movement, Tetmajer blended Impressionist color sensibility with a deep affection for rural Polish life, often found painting peasants, landscapes, and farm animals near his beloved Bronowice. This earthy, sun-dappled study would bring a warm, painterly charm to any wall, evoking the quiet rhythms of countryside life.